Teacher who sent ‘9-year-old’ girl video of himself masturbating caught in sting operation

A 33-year-old school teacher has been jailed after having highly sexualised conversations with young girls, including sending a video of himself masturbating to a profile claiming she was “nine-years-old”. Niall Ganley, from Dublin, was caught in a sting operation by a UK based vigilante group who aim to stop child sexual grooming online. Garda Lisa Finn told the prosecutor that a woman from the group met with police in Britain to report the conversations between Ganley and a fake profile of a child that was set up in 2023.

The criminal had initiated contact with the profile of the girl who claimed to be nine-years-old, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard, and said: “Heya cutie, horny 27 year old male teacher here from Ireland”. The fake profile replied: “I’m not old enough, it sucks being nine years old”. In response, Ganley said he loved to kiss her and asked her to record her voice proving she was a child. 

The sexual predator wrote that he had a car he could fit a mattress into and sent her nude photos of himself with emojis covering his genitalia. 

He then sent her instructions on female masturbation before sending a video of himself masturbating. 

After this, he sent her links to online porn and said: “I could bring you to the beach and we could stay at a hotel overnight. I’m sure your mum would trust a teacher”.

Ganley was identified by Gardai who located him at his home in Dublin where his devices were seized. Analysis of these showed 20 images and two videos of child sex abuse as well as records of online conversations with three different minors using the Skype app.

In 2016, he had highly sexualised conversations, including sending sexual images, with a 16-year-old girl. He also contacted a girl who told him she was 13. 

The court also heard that two “up-skirting” videos of teenagers were found on his phone, made by Ganley. 

He pleaded guilty to inducing a child to participate in sexual activity, production of child sexual abuse material for distribution, possession of child abuse material, and communication with a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Gareth Baker SC, defending, said his family were horrified and Gnley has since engaged with the charity One in Four where he has reportedly expressed genuine remorse.

Judge Martin Nolan initially set a starting sentence of five years but reduced it by half due to mitigating factors such as full co-operation and a guilty plea.